Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 116 . . . Praise

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ, where all of our challenges are based on scripture. This week's hostess is our beloved sister Rebekka who has selected this verse from Job 13:15 "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Her challenge is to make a card that praises our God and Savior.

My creation this week is actually a junior legal notepad cover; the notepad can be used to keep track of prayer requests or as a thankfulness journal thanking God for the daily blessings he bestows.

I heard something this week on the radio that put Rebekka's challenge and verse in mind.

When I was a child one of the hymns we sang often at church was called "Now Thank We All Our God." The first two verses are as follows:

Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers' arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

2. O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.

Notice especially the first verse, how it is filled with praise to our Lord! Until this past week though, I never had heard the story of the man who penned those lyrics.

His name was Martin Rinkart and he was a provincial clergyman in Ellenburg, Saxony, during the thirty years war. In addition to the calamities associated with any conflict, in 1637 the plague hit his village and in that one year 8,000 people died, including Rinkart's wife. He alone conducted more than 4,000 funerals for the people of that area, in one year. Then the plague was followed by famine, followed by foreign troops demanding 'tribute.' The list or troubles never seems to end.

Like Job, if anyone had cause to whine or bury their head in their hands and sob aloud, it was Rinkart. Yet the hymn you see printed above was his response. As much trouble as we face in our lives, it would be hard to come up with a list as impressive as Rinkart's or Job's. And what is our response? Job's story and Rinkart's story that I heard on the radio, give me some food for thought as to my response when I am facing my own short list of troubles.

Our sponsor this week is Pizzazz Aplenty and you need to visit that shop, some very cool items are in stock. And please do visit our home page where you can read Rebekka's thoughts on her chosen verse and see some great creations from the rest of the design team.

Thanks for looking, hope you can play along!

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs (border strip), Clear Dollar Stamps (sentiment), Rubber Stamp Tapestry (pine cones, branches, etc.)
Paper: Olive green, Echo Park DP, PTI vintage cream, Fine Linen, gold
Ink: black, Kiwi Kiss, True Thyme, tan, Ranger distress ink (sponged), chocolate (PTI)
Other: cuttlebug embossing folder, vintage corner die, ODBD die to match stamp

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 101 . . .de-stashing

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ and this week's hostess the lovely inside-and-out Linda, who selected this verse from Lam 3:22 -23 The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.

Her challenge is to Dig deep into your craft cupboard and use something from your stash that you 'just had to have' cause you would use it everyday....but have forgotten about...and our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps! They have a great selection of art and sentiments including many scripture verses, one of which I used on my card today.

I'll be interested to read Linda's devotional because I don't know where she is going with this verse and the challenge but I do find it comforting that so many encouraging verses come out of a book called Lamentations. :) This is one of my favorites. The fact that God's mercies are fresh and new every morning, the past is wiped away and we have a new start! His mercies never cease . . . that word 'never' encompasses all of eternity. He is faithful, even when we are faithless. . . that part of the verse I keep in mind in particular when I pray for friends and family who don't yet know Jesus Christ as their personal savior, God is faithful to answer our prayers and to call lovingly to those who don't yet recognize His voice. And then who can read this verse without hearing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" in their heads? God's love for you is new every morning, just grab hold of it and hang on through the storms of life!

This challenge was actually a bit difficult for me . . .the main objects that I 'had to have' and haven't used are all those 3-D alterable items that never seem to get made! And I wasn't going to try my hand at them this week either! But I did use one new product I had to have and I love it! I used a vintage medallion art stencil from Layers of Color, sponging a bit of spun sugar distress ink around the stencil on top of Prima Fairy Flora paper. I buy stamps and then find myself without time to use them . . . and then buy more stamps and let them sit . . . a dangerous pattern so I think I will stop buying stamps for a while! But I liked this verse in Philippians from Clear Dollar Stamps and it seemed to suit the paper and a need I have for some encouraging cards for friends who are having troubles right now. Two products I seldom use are Smooch gold lame--I used a bit on the butterfly body and the wings--and twinkling H20s which I also used to give the butterfly wings a bit of shimmer.

The butterfly I colored using the cup o'markers you see pictured, then overlaid the wings with some twinkling H20s for a bit of shimmer and dotted a bit of smooch on the wings for a touch of gold to match the gold embossed verse. I did a closeup so you could see the gold a bit better, I don't usually do that. The butterfly also is a sneak peek of a new set being introduced this coming week from Mark's Finest Papers, Butterflies and Wisteria.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping, we hope you can play along!

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 96 . . . CAS

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! I am the hostess this week, and our sponsor is Clear Dollar Stamps! They are offering a $15 gift card to their store to one randomly selected winner. I used this cute little hippo stamp I received with an order I placed back in January, I believe. My bible verse and thoughts for this week are as follows:

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

Before you move one more word forward in this message, go get your bible and open it.

Now that you're back and you have opened to that passage in scripture, go find a solitary place, read the word and pray. Have a conversation with the Lord.

We feel privileged to come here every week and share encouraging words, share our artwork and then view yours in the gallery. As Christians we are to encourage one another in our walk. (Proverbs 27:17, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, Galatians 6:2 as some examples.) However, I feel a burden on my heart that as a nation, as Christians, we are not turning to the power source.

A few weeks ago we had a huge storm that knocked a limb out of a tree. These are hundred-year-old maples so you can imagine how huge the `limb' was, and the storm knocked down the power lines and the entire town was blacked out for over 24 hours. What would have happened if I'd shaken our lamps, yelled at the light switch on the wall, "Why aren't you doing anything? Where is the light you are supposed to provide?"

The lamp, the cord, the switch, these all are elements that connect TO the power source, but remain simple conduits. We, the members of the Stampin' Sisters in Christ team love you as sisters in Christ, but HE is the power source—Christ Jesus. We are not it. Neither is talk radio, facebook, food, the phone, TV, all the things we use to draw our minds away from our troubles, places we turn to as a panacea.

So for this week I want to encourage you to spend time every day in the Word. God wrote a book—read it. God wants a relationship with you—work on it. Find a quiet place to read the bible and pray to God, not with a laundry list of please bless this one and please heal that one; which are all important prayers; but in addition, take the time to be still and to listen for His response, for His will and purpose for your life, and yes, to feel His love wash over you. Go and be still.

God is in all aspects of our lives, even the hustle and bustle, but in quiet times we often hear him best, as it says in I Kings 19:12 "And after the fire there was a gentle whisper."

This week's challenge then is a CAS card, be still and listen for that gentle whisper.

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps main image, Papertrey Ink Turning a New Leaf

Paper: Aqua mist, gray, white, scrap of Doodle Bug Designs

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Certainly Celery, black

Other: copics, linen thread, scalloped rectangle nestability

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 87. . . Romans 8:28

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ. Our hostess this week is the introspective and talented MariLynn, who has selected this well known and well loved verse from Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Her challenge is for you to NOT use designer paper, the paper must start out as a solid color.

Our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps. You can see the rest of the creations by the design team on the home blog here and my design sister Kris used a beautiful strawberry stamp that I didn't know existed before today and now feel the need to own. :) You can also read MariLynn's thoughts on her chosen verse.

What does that verse mean to me? I think there are a lot of ways to interpret it and I have to be careful when I read it. I tend to think of it more in terms of what it does not mean.

God works for the good of those who love him . . . God's eternal view of what is deemed good isn't necessarily the American cultural view of what we would think of as good. I need to leave that word up to God's interpretation.

God works . . . he's not the only one who is to be working. If we are called according to his purpose, then we have a job, a purpose here on earth to fulfill before we go to our eternal home and we need to be busy about doing it. That purpose will differ for everyone, but ultimately our purpose is to bring God glory. So it does not mean God does the work, I sit back and wait for heaven to come along some day. I'll be interested to read the thoughts of the other designers on this verse.

In the meantime, I used last week's sketch from Card Patterns, too late to enter it on their blog, but it helped me figure out what to do on this challenge. I started with white, red and blue paper. Gingham has always been popular but seems to really be making a resurgence; I've seen three stamp companies introduce gingham-style stamps in the past few months, but luckily I purchased a gingham background stamp a long while ago and can play along with this trend.

The image is from Clear Dollar Stamps and I don't know if you can tell from this photo or not, but I put a little strip of glitter on the blue burst behind the sentiment to help it stand out a bit more. If someone is "spoon-tacular" I think they need a little bling!

Thanks for looking. Hope you can play along this week!

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps "Kitchen Clutter", CHF gingham backgrounder, SU retired background (flowers)

Ink: red, black

Paper: red, white, blue

Other: glitter, nestabilities, copics, gingham and other ribbon, scalloped edge die

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 83 . . . childlike faith

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! I am late to the party, I was traveling all week, 2400 miles or more and now back home again. I would never make a good long distance trucker, that I know. But I am getting my post up this afternoon.

Our hostess this week is Miesje. She selected this verse from Luke 18:17 "Amen I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Her challenge is to make a card or project for a child. Our sponsor this week is Clear Dollar Stamps and they are offering a $15 gift card to one randomly selected winner who plays along with our challenge.

You can read Miesje's wonderful devotional here on the main blog page for Stampin' Sisters in Christ and also see the creations by the rest of the design team sisters. I am simply going to point you to Miesje's words and not add a single thought since I am barely scraping in on the challenge on time. I need to unpack and do laundry! :)

And for all of you who live in the southern climes we were recently visiting, we are experiencing a thunder-snowstorm currently, complete with large fluffy flakes, lightning and loud booming thunder all at the same time! Gotta love Springtime in the north!

I used a Patchwork Pal stamp created by this week's sponsor, you can find a selection of very cute animal stamps and all kinds of scripture and encouraging words at Clear Dollar Stamps. Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps, sentiment from SU
Paper: Mark's Finest Papers white and colored cardstock, random DP from stash
Ink: Brilliance black
Other: ribbon, copics, SU star eyelets from stash

Other challenges:

CCEE Stampers: No buttons, bow, buckles or brads (knots, no bows)
Southern Girls: Add an animal
Creative Card Crew: For a child
One Stop Craft Challenge: spots and dots
7KidsCollegeFund: seeing spots

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 65 . . increase or decrease?

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ!
This week's hostess is the talented and lovely Grace, who selected this verse from John 3:3o "He must increase and I must decrease."

Her challenge is to make a CAS card if you need to decrease and a more embellished card if Christ in your life needs to increase, or, you can do both. Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp! And you can read Grace's thoughts on her chosen verse on the home page for Stampin' Sisters in Christ right here.

I am sorry to have missed last week's challenge. We had a death in the family and were out of town for over a week. Then, just this week a dear friend of mine lost her husband. Every day this week all I could think about were the families I know who have lost loved ones and will sorely miss their presence in the days, weeks and years to come.

Yet each of these people who have gone home had expressed firm belief in the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and their families have no doubts that they will see them again. There is much comfort in that knowledge.

Before I started working on Grace's challenge, because of the events of the past two weeks, my thoughts already were turning to. . .how am I helping others? Am I reaching out as effectively as I can or could I do more? I can if I decrease and allow Christ to increase in my life.

And its those little two- and three-letter words that can really trip you up to prevent you from achieving this goal.

'if'-- If is conditional, it has strings attached, whereas Christ had no strings attached to his love--just accept His sacrifice on the cross and the gift of eternal life is yours.

'my' -- My is a possessive when nothing in this life is really mine. "My' time, 'my' possessions, 'my' next breath--they all belong to Him. How does God want me to use the gifts, talents, time and space that He has given?

'but' -- Just add water and you get instant selfishness . . . I'd forgive him but. . . I'd go visit her but . . .I'd donate that gift but . . . I'd volunteer for that but . . .

I'm sure you can think of more.

CAS . . . I must decrease. More elaborate . . . He must increase. More of Christ in my life means more of life lived more abundantly, because the life lived in Christ is abundant with eternal riches. Who wouldn't trade those eternal riches for a few small, short mys, but or ifs?

Wishing you a blessed week and hoping you can play along.

Butterfly sympathy

What can you say about sympathy cards? They're hard to make, at least for me. I tried to lighten this one up a bit by using the DP that is a light shade of gray/blue with white.

The butterfly is from an old SU set, Ageless Adornment. I really like the images it contains. You'll notice that my butterfly faces the opposite direction of the stamp when you use it on paper. I chose the stained glass technique for this so the image is in reverse, because once you stamp it on acetate, you apply the glitter (one color at a time) on the side of the acetate where you have ink. Then when you mount it on your card you flip it, so the glitter won't rub off. I used seven different shades of glitter on this image although it is hard to tell in the photo, you can see variation in color in person. All shades of blue and gray and black. The sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps Christian Sympathy set. The backing paper is silver, not gray, but a light silver so it has a bit of a shimmer to it. Thanks for looking.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge

Happy Sunday stampers! It is time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ. This week's hostess is Ceal, who chose the verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

The challenge this week is to make a card or project using images of people such as children, men or women, to let someone know you are praying for them.

This is the same image I used in my last post, so a bit of an explanation is in order. We are redoing our kitchen and that's where I usually stamp. We're installing new cabinets and my husband is doing all the work himself. We've had no countertops or cabinets for two months now and we're moving closer to that happy day, slowly, but this weekend he's working on replacing drywall that had to be torn out to work on the pipes. Then it has to be taped and sanded. Then we paint. Then we start to put up new cabinets.

So everything that was IN the kitchen is now somewhere else in the house. There are very few places you can walk downstairs without stepping over a box of dishes or food items. And with the drywall installation there is dust over everything. Let me emphasize that . . . everything. So I used the items I had pulled out for my last project for this card, because any time I stamp I have to dig things out of boxes in the garage. It just makes stamping (and cooking) a bit of a challenge, but one day we'll all be put together again.

Back to the important stuff, Ceal's passage is a great reminder to us to spend some time in prayer this week. Did you know the bible contains 500 passages that refer to prayer? An important topic and one of our most accessible means of building a relationship with God. You can pray any time, anywhere. "If my people . . . humble themselves . . . " -- humility is the attitude to seek as you approach God when you pray. You can pray while driving in the car, while taking a walk . . . any time during the day, it isn't your external but your internal posture that matters. It is a good idea to have a quiet place in your home to pray, to get down on your knees, but prayer isn't limited to a time, location or physical position, so try to find yourself in prayer more often than not this week.

When I'm stumped over how to use an image, I always find a good sketch will help clear the roadblocks. I had all these pieces of things that I wanted to use, so I went to Priscilla Styles blog to look up this week's sketch challenge. The sketch for this week helped me out tremendously. You'll find the challenge for sketch #30 here. I turned the sketch on its side and moved the position of the little 'circle' in the sketch to be my sentiment. The image is double layered. I stamped the angel twice and embossed the frame in the frame in the bottom layer with irridescent ice EP. The whole card sparkles quite a bit IRL. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Magenta, Clear Dollar Stamps (sentiment)

Ink: Distress inks in Faded Jeans, Broken China, Concord Grape, Weathered Wood, black craft

Paper: PTI white, SU shimmer white, black, PTI Spring Rain

Other: Rock Candy crackle distress paint, pearls, snowflakes, irridescent ice EP, rhinestone, prismacolor pencils, snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder, dazzling diamonds glitter

Celebrate Babies!

Happy Sunday stampers! This week's challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is to create a baby card. The verse for this week is from Jeremiah 1:5, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb."

That is such an exciting and heart warming verse to me. The God of the universe knew me, knew my children, before anyone else. He knew the entire plan of my life, of my children's lives and He knows the plan for your life as well, and He loved you before you were even born.

This card evolved a bit over time. I actually made the bottom card first following the Mojo Monday sketch from last week, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked to me like a card for a little boy's birthday maybe, but not for a new mom and her precious baby boy bundle. So I softened up the colors and added more white, sponging the edges of the kraft cardstock I used as the base.

I had a stamp that said 'baby' on it out on my stamp table and it has disappeared on me, but luckily found the Stampin Up baby tag shaped stamp to use instead.

The main image is the patchpal elephant from Clear Dollar Stamps. They have quite a few patchpal animals and the nice thing is they are sold separately so if there is one in particular you like, you don't have to buy the whole set.

I actually pulled out my copic markers for this set of cards, I need to get more used to them! Please visit the rest of the design team for more inspiration. We look forward to having you play along!

The baby card I created at the top is going to go to a new friend of mine who lives in New York. She and her husband are expecting their very first child, a boy, some time this month so very soon!

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Patchpal elephant, Papertrey Ink polka dot basics, background basics spots and dots, Stampin Up baby tag

Ink: white craft, black stazon, Cool Caribbean

Paper: Doodlebug Designs DP, apricot, chocolate chip, gable green, cool caribbean, lavendar, kraft, summer sun, Neenah solar white

Accessories: copics, ribbon, twine, PTI button, stickles, Fiskars threading water punch

Happy Birthday Laurie!

Today at Stampin' Sisters in Christ we're throwing a virtual birthday party for Laurie, one of our design team members. She doesn't know yet she's the guest of honor!

All the design team members are participating, so if you'd like to go on a birthday blog hop, start at the main blog and then follow along with the listed links below. If you already started there, welcome to my portion of the party!

I brought chocolate dipped strawberries for everyone to enjoy, please help yourself!

Now for the birthday card. I found my inspiration for this card viewing the blogs of two Papertrey Ink designers, Lauren McVey and Betsy Veldman. Thank you ladies for always posting such lovely creations.

I used the Stampin Up set Serene Sunflowers with Pink Pirouette and Regal Rose, with a Clear Dollar Stamps set for the sentiment, sponging the edges of all the layers with Creamy Caramel for a bit of a vintage look. The button is PTI Lavendar, but I find it matches pink inks marvelously well.

Thanks for looking and happy birthday blog hopping! Start the birthday blog hop on the Stampin' Sisters in Christ site. Right after my post, visit Kathy. And if you want to wish the birthday girl (Laurie) a happy day, you'll find her blog here.

Birthday blog hop order is listed below:

SSCC Blog

Peggysue

Kathy

Ceal

Helen

Pamela

Kristine

Candace

Randi

Lisa

Joseph's Coat flower

Here is number three for the summer challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms. This challenge had to involve some sort of resist technique, this is Joseph's Coat, a sort of emboss resist. The purple paper in the background does really match one of the purple tones in the flower, I just cannot get it right in the photo. 

Directions are pretty simple. Take a piece of glossy cardstock, use a brayer and a kaleidacolor pad and makes some bands of color. Let it dry. Swipe it with that little bag that reminds me of the bags bowlers use on their hands . . . anti static or something.  Then stamp your image with versamark and emboss with clear EP. Rub over the page with either a black craft ink (which I used) or you can use Brilliance black. 

Let it dry for a good hour, then pat the black ink off of your embossed image. This was the tricky part. I think next time I try this I might use regular cardstock because the glossy paper resists the black ink too, and it is easy to rub off too much.  Thanks for looking! Hope you had a good weekend!

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms grunge flower, Clear Dollar Stamps Christian sympathy (sentiment)

Ink: Kaleidacolor Berry Blaze, Silver craft, black craft

Paper: SU black, PTI Raspberry Fizz, silver, Bazill purple, glossy

Other: Martha Stewart edge punch, butterfly punch, silver cord, silver EP, brayer, tissue

Patriotic Birdies!

Is it just me or do we all feel a bit more patriotic as we get closer to July 4th? And I think that red white and blue together are lovely colors. 

I believe its a good idea when you can, to be deliberate in your stamping, by that I mean having a reason for everything you put in your card or creation. I chose the scalloped circle nestabilities and put the white ringed with red in that order because it reminds me of the bunting you see draped on country farmhouses on the porch railings. I chose the Martha Stewart flower punch because bright colorful flowers are part of summer, but they also slightly mimic fireworks, so I added the bright red microbeads to the blue and white flowers for centers. The red gingham reminds of of summer picnic cloths, the white vintage die cut in the corner, the gingerbread you find on older homes. The light blue panel that backs everything up on the kraft represents the blue sky you want to appear when you have a picnic. 

Even knowing I wanted to use this set in a patriotic card, I was still a bit puzzled for layout, but Clear Dollar Stamps is having a guest designer contest right now and they posted a layout that looked like fun to try, this is very loosely based on that layout. You can see the details for the contest and layout here. I liked the divide in the middle, so I could have my red checked background AND include blue! The corner of my card bent a little, it was a windy day and while I thought I'd utilize natural light to take my photo, it blew over! Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Pretty Perches, Stampin' Up! Dad's Day (BG on blue panel)

Cardstock: SU Kraft, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, PTI Poppy, Neenah Solar white, red gingham check DP from Hobby Lobby

Ink: SU Green Galore, Glorious Green, Close to Cocoa, white craft, Pacific Point, PTI Poppy, Versamark dazzle pad

Other: Martha Stewart punch, red microbeads, white lacy sticker, Cuttlebug vintage die cut, Azure blue glitter, blue rivet, white button . . . I think that's all

Shadowbox Birdhouse

I know I've used this DP until you're tired of seeing it, but it is so happy and springy. I thought it went so well with the birdhouse images from my new Clear Dollar Stamp set. 

  Shadowbox is one of my favorite layouts and I thought it could help make a nice outdoor scene for this birdhouse. I made a sky background first, using Cindy Motherway's tutorial, sweet Cindy, thank you for sharing it! Then I stamped the branches and leaves over it. I inked the leaves in green galore first then rolled the edges in glorious green. 

  I stamped the birdhouse in turquoise and coral craft, I just liked those two colors together. Then I embossed it to give the birdhouse a bit of shine. The chain is inked with silver craft and also embossed. The birdhouse and the red bird each are popped up on a dimensional to give the card even more depth. This style card folds flat for mailing, so even though the sentiment hangs over the edge of the middle panel when open, folded flat it fits quite nicely. Thanks for looking. 

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Pretty Perches and Christian Sympathy

Inks: Bashful blue, Cameo Coral craft, Turquoise craft, black, Real Red, Green Galore, Glorious Green, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Bashful blue, Neenah solar white, DP 

Other: Waterfall stickles, nestabilities ovals and . . . that other shape, prima flowers

Wrinkle Free Distress

I always like trying new techniques. Sherry Cheever posted a tutorial on splitcoast a few weeks ago for wrinkle free distress backgrounds. Don't be fooled, this took me at least five tries to get something halfway decent. :)

  The minute I saw the Clear Dollar Stamp set I was attracted to the silhouette images and thought they would make a nice match with this technique. 

  For the primary panel with the stamped image I used Broken China, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint. I used aluminum foil first, but then wax paper seemed to work better instead. I think I'll invest in the Ranger non stick craft sheet soon. Watching Sherry's tutorial is the best way to learn, but basically you swipe the pads across a non stick surface, spritz them with water until the ink beads up, then press your paper down on the ink, dry it with a heat gun or craft iron, then blot the paper again until you like your results. For the back panel I used Broken China, Antique Linen and Peeled Paint. Thanks for looking. 

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Pretty Perches, For Our Lord

Paper: PTI Spring Moss, SU Old Olive, black, Neenah solar white

Ink: Ranger distress inks Broken China, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, SU black craft ink

Other: wax paper, spritzer, Martha Stewart edge punch, ribbon from Mike's

Floral Wreath

Yesterday's card was a fun little quickie. I have to make those once in a while so I don't get the reputation of the 'sad stamper.' 

I became involved with the cancer care ministry at our church after my dad passed away. I still have many, many days of missing him terribly. 

This card is for a woman who also is not going to find healing on this earth. But she and her family have put their faith and trust in the Lord and they know they will be reunited one day. I hope you have done that too, trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and if you don't know what that is all about I'd be happy to share what He has done in my life. 

This card uses a Clear Dollar Stamps set, Christian sympathy, but many of the sentiments are nice just for a thinking of you type of card, which is what this one is. I dug out a set of tiny floral images called Ferns and Flowers from a company that is now no longer in business, but you can find similar stamp sets at Rubber Stamp Tapestry. They also have these cool plastic templates? shapes? that help guide you in placement of the tiny stamps to create a wreath, as I did here.  

   Center the template on your cardstock. I used two cotton balls and my Stampin Up chalks, dipping them into old olive and then garden green and brushed around the oval template so when I lifted it up, I had a light green oval circle. Using that as your guide, stamp the tiny ferns and flowers around the outside edge of that oval. A mixture of greens and double stamping help give the wreath more depth. The single pearl pin stands for two things, a tear to acknowledge the family's sadness in slowly losing someone they love, but it also stands for our hope in the One who can provide ultimate healing.  Thanks for looking. 

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Christian Sympathy, Ferns and Flowers mini stamps (company no longer in business)

Paper: Stampin Up vanilla and Old Olive, Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding and Spring Moss

Ink: Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Stampin Up Eggplant, Creamy Caramel, Soft Sky

Other: Stampin Up chalks, Fiskars corner emboss/punch, Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding satin ribbon, pearl pin from Making Memories

Tea for Two

My friend Linda is hosting the color challenge for Clear Dollar Stamps on Papercraft Planet. The challenge she set was to create a monochromatic card. I thought this little teapot was the cutest thing and pulled it out to play. 

You might be asking, what color did you use for your focus if this is a monochromatic card? :) Good question! I chose Regal Rose, one of the colors in this luscious DP from Stampin' Up. That is my focal color on the scalloped square and in the little tea towels. 

I have a classic silver stainless steel teapot in my house, so silver and white are the neutrals. I fussed with it for a while to incorporate more of my focal color but it just looked best in CAS mode. This is also a petite little card, barely 4" square. Thanks for looking, I hope you like it!

This serves now as my challenge for my Ocean's 11 bloggers group. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create a small, square, CAS card. Any colors, any stamp company. Have fun!

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps 'Kitchen Clutter'

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black archival ink

Paper: Papertrey Ink white, SU Regal Rose, Bella Rose DP

Accessories: Silver prismacolor pencil, Ciao markers, Spellbinders square and scalloped square nestabilities

Sweet birdie

Can you spot the background paper in this post? I think this is my favorite of the three I created, just because the colors are so happy and bright! Although I like the aqua too. . . 

This kind of showcases an alternative way to use the background paper you create. Instead of as background the paper becomes the focal point, using the Spellbinders nestability to cut out a sweet little bird. 

This card and the one below use sentiments from a Clear Dollar Stamp set called 'Whatever.' I think it is going to be so versatile!

A friend loaned me her Manhattan Flower die from Stampin Up and I had to try it out. I think it makes a nice backdrop for the bird. I used a piece of carefully hoarded vellum from a retired SU Candy set to tie the colors together. I think it was called Candy. 

I had a lot of fun creating my cards, please look at the two posts below this one for the other two in the set of three that I made. 

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Silent Night and Green Thumb, Clear Dollar Stamps "Whatever," Stampin Up Belle Toile

Paper: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, Sweet Blush, Neenah Solar White, Stampin Up Pretty in Pink

Ink: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, Berry Sorbet, Stampin Up Apricot, white craft, Stazon black

Accessories: Manhattan Flower die (SU), glitter, GG ribbon, Spellbinders petite circle nestability, Spellbinders bird die

Believe in Prayer

The minute I saw this stamp set in Clear Dollar Stamps I knew I wanted it. I could just see so many possibilities for it, as with the card above this post. 

This card uses the second background paper I made for the Papertrey Ink blog hop. This features the PTI blush paper with blush and Berry Sorbet inked with the flourish from Silent Night and the large flower image from PTI's Green Thumb in Stampin' Up white craft. 

The "Believe" sentiment from the Whatever set by Clear Dollar Stamps is inked in PTI Berry Sorbet on Kraft paper, with the smaller line in black and Berry Sorbet on white. I had one little flower button left from a stash I bought a while ago at Michael's. I'm awaiting the restock of the cream buttons at PTI, hope they come in soon! Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Silent Night and Green Thumb, Clear Dollar Stamps 'Whatever'

Paper: Papertrey Ink Blush, SU Kraft, Neenah Solar White

Ink: Papertrey Ink Blush, Berry Sorbet, SU white craft, Stazon black

Accessories: GG ribbon, button

Comfort

It has been a while since I have had time to stamp.  We have had truck issues, which aren't worth talking about save to say they are finally over! Yay! 

Today's card is for the technique lover's challenge on splitcoast stampers, this is TLC212. Claire or waltzingmouse in Ireland generously shared her technique to create a beautiful knotted ribbon frame.  Here is her blog, check out her beautiful creations. 

Ever since I received this set, Clear Dollar Stamps Christian Sympathy, I've wanted to create a card using the saying about God's comfort within the Spellbinders bird die. When I went through a dark time in my life, many years ago, I clung to Psalm 57:1b, "In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." I usually like the NIV version of the bible, but for psalms and Isaiah and a few other books, I really like the King James version, it is beautifully poetic. So in this dark time I would picture myself as a little bird, hiding under God's wings, fully protected and comforted.  So this saying seemed so fitting for inside of the bird, tucked under God's wing. 

I used the SU Such a Tweet wheel on the brown cardstock with SU vanilla and then Irridescent Ice EP over it, so it shimmers nicely, you just cannot see it in this photo. I also sewed seed pearls on the ribbon knots and the ribbon was just a lucky find in the bottom of my sewing box. Thanks for looking. 

Stamps: SU Such a Tweet wheel, Clear Dollar Stamps Christian Sympathy

Ink: SU Pink Pirouette, vanilla craft, Stazon black

Paper: Basic Grey Sugared, Papertrey Ink brown, white, Blush and Spring Moss

Accessories: Spellbinders bird die, seed pearls, ribbon, Spellbinders petite scalloped circle, labels one, cuttlebug folder, black brad, Irridescent Ice EP, Cuttlebug vintage die

You are my Refuge

Refuge and strength, two wonderful words. This card is for someone who has been having a very hard year and is leaning on the Lord for their strength, just a little pick me up to hopefully brighten their day.

  I started with this gorgeous DP, it always makes it easier to create a card when you have the right DP in mind, don't you think? I only have some scraps of it left, it is called Florentine Venetian and I think I bought it long ago at Michael's. 

  The gold on the background paper is carried into the accent stamps I used on the sentiment. For the scalloped border I used a pretty, shimmery vellum. I pierced just part of the way around the oval for two reasons, one, so that the holes would not interfere with the sentiment and two, that way I have a good place to put my Stampin' Up dimensionals to hold the piece on place, since it overlays the vellum. The sentiment is from a Christian sympathy set by Clear Dollar Stamps, but I think it works for encouragement as well. Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Christian sympathy, SU Belle Toile (behind the sentiment)

Cardstock: vanilla, Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet, vellum

Ink: Tsukineko Brilliance Graphite Black, SU Pink Pirouette, gold craft

Accessories: spare piece of ribbon, Martha Stewart scallop edge punch, paper piercing tool and guide, fine detail gold EP, oval nestability